Got Some Stones.

[lonewoodminer]

I recently received this mixed tourmaline but not quite sure what best to do with it?
Can anyone help as to whether a certain colour is any more popular than others? Obviously personal preference plays a big part but it seems that good blue attracts high prices - there are some nice greens in this lot (some with very nice colour I think). Is there a rule of thumb to work off - tourmaline comes in so many colours, it is difficult to get a handle on it.

Cheers Andrew Lane

 

[strmrdr]

From what iv seen around the net, pink and bi-color and tri-color are the most often seen for sale.

 

[lonewoodminer]

thanks for the reply - there are only a few bi-colour pieces. Another on is green on the outside and red inside - do you call that watermelon? In the attached photo - there are 2 larger pieces that we are calling peach - does anyone have a better suggestion for describing this colour? Some of these would cut very large stones but how would you wear them? Some of the crystals may be ok as they are in pendants - has anyone seen any jewellery like this? Tourmaline is certainly a very interesting gem - lots of variety!

cheers
Andrew

 

[Art Nouveau]

Looking from a different perspective, women buy jewelry to go with their clothes. Since last fall, turquoise, peach and green, especially in lighter shades have been very popular, and the trend seems to be carrying forward to spring. Green is hot in many shades: lime green, mint green, bluish green and neon green etc. I think the peach and light bluish green ones look interesting. Drop earrings are "in". It will be neat if you can cut briolettes and pears for drop earrings. Stores are carrying lots of peridot jewelry, but it''s not easy to find affordable stones in mint green or peach. Wearable size stones will be more usable than huge ones. Big ones can be pendants or brooches. Approximately how much per carat would these go for after cutting? I am actually looking for mint green earrings to go with the attached jacket. Tourmaline is the only stone I can think of that comes in that color.

Art Nouveau

 

[lonewoodminer]

Date: 3/5/2005 1:10:43 AM
Author: Art Nouveau
Looking from a different perspective, women buy jewelry to go with their clothes. Since last fall, turquoise, peach and green, especially in lighter shades have been very popular, and the trend seems to be carrying forward to spring. Green is hot in many shades: lime green, mint green, bluish green and neon green etc. I think the peach and light bluish green ones look interesting. .... Approximately how much per carat would these go for after cutting? I am actually looking for mint green earrings to go with the attached jacket. Tourmaline is the only stone I can think of that comes in that color.

Art Nouveau

Thanks for your ideas!
Speaking from a miner''s perspective -We dont spend all that much time in the fashion stores but maybe I should start! Certainly tourmaline is good for a variety of colours. Not sure about cut stone prices (see my PM) so maybe others might have more info on that. Had a bit of a look online but difficult to come to grips with all the different colours and what the going rate might be. Green Queensland sapphire certainly has been popular in the last while (we dont produce that type) some of the demand however has been I feel to use it to berilium treat to make yellows and reds.

cheers
Andrew

 

[movie zombie]

i may be the odd woman, but i don''t buy jewelry to go with clothes...i buy what i like and wear it with whatever. as a consumer only, i like the orange stones but the greens are also nice.

peace, movie zombie

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 3/5/2005 12:27:41 AM
Author: lonewoodminer
Tourmaline is certainly a very interesting gem - lots of variety!


cheers

Andrew

I have to agree with you there.
My favorite is the golden yellow one in the front if it would cut that dark but the hot pink that is seen sticking out in the back is probably the most valuable one.
To get an idea of the retail market on them in the US I usualy use
www.diamondexpert.com
as a benchmark.

 

[belle]

oh my!!! those are all soooo beautiful! ......awesome colors!
i can''t wait to see what you do with them.

 

[Michael_E]

Andrew,
In terms of value, the blues and greens are at the top of the tourmaline scale. The yellows are decidedly low value since they are usually so close in color to citrine. If that dark green stone in the upper middle is colored with chromium, then it would be the most valuable in the lot. Prices for these are all over the place from highs approaching $30 per carat to lows of about $5 per carat for the roughs. If that''s an inch scale, then those are good sized stones and it seems as if they are sitting on a light table, so it''s kind of hard to get an idea of actual color when they''re back lit. Those medium greens in the foreground and the lighter mint green are my favorites. Will you be selling those on your website or cutting them ? By the way, the tourmaline in my avatar was cut from a stone that was a decidedly UGLY oval that had muddy green sections around that great purplish-pink. I chopped that green off and the stone improved about 1000% in looks. Let me know if you''re willing to be separated from some of those stones.

 

[lonewoodminer]

Hi All

I think we will spit it up into colours and see how it looks, perhaps cut a few ourselves to see the results.
I have read that some stone can be a bit unstable when you start cutting into it? Leading to cracks developing ,has anyone experianced this?

Cheers Andrew Lane

 

[valeria101]

Date: 3/5/2005 1:10:43 AM
Author: Art Nouveau

Tourmaline is the only stone I can think of that comes in that color.

There''s mint green garnet as well... like this:

and green beryl:

and a less usual type of crysoberyl colored by vanadium to a light blueish green instead of the usual yellowish shades:

And spodumene (green cousin of kunzite, or hiddenite) comming in really large (fist sized) chunks and light green color.

And there must be some less common things aside these as well.

True enough, tourmaline and green beryl are the most likely encounters of the list.

 

[Richard M.]

Date: 3/9/2005 1:56:52 AM
Author: lonewoodminer
I have read that some stone can be a bit unstable when you start cutting into it? Leading to cracks developing ,has anyone experianced this?
Cheers Andrew Lane

Yes, I''ve run into it with tourmaline Andrew. Some crystals are stressed and cutting them results in cracks when the stress is relieved. I''ve been told you can see the stress in touchy crystals with a polariscope but I''d have to search my notes to refresh my memory on the details. I''ve had particular problems with bicolored tourmaline "pencils" from California''s Himalaya Mine which were cut into long baguettes; and similar top blue-green material from Namibia.

Some cutters carefully grind a bit at the c-axis end of the crystals to hopefully relieve stress and avoid cracking. In addition others recommend "skinning" the entire crystal lightly with a fine grit, approx. 600, before laying in the temporary table. I haven''t noticed any particular problems with Nigerian tourms but mileage can vary of course.

Richard M.

 

[Richard M.]

Andrew, an additonal thought:

Most of the crystals I''ve experienced difficulty with were mine-fresh and unweathered. Many Nigerian tourms, as is evident in your image, are alluvial. It may be that the process of stream-tumbling the crystals relieves the stress differential between the crystal''s interior and the outer surface. They certainly have to be tough to survive all that erosive hammering intact! The stressed ones may be sand by now.

Richard M.

 

[innerkitten]

I like the pink ones. I have a purple tourmaline crystal with a bit of green on top. I don''t know the origin of it. Some stranger gave it to me at a bar where I was hanging out with a bunch of my girlfriends. Weird story.

 

[lonewoodminer]

Hi All

Thanks Richard for those tips - I will have our cutter trying some tourmaline over the next few days at the first Gem show we have been part of. I hope it goes okay - we will be arranging faceting displays and talks all weekend.

Interkitten I''d love to know some background to that pink tourmaline given to you in a bar! Wow you American Gals must have the life - the pubs here in our small town are not nearly so interesting.

cheers
Andrew